Derek’s first impulse was to tell Farzad that hell would freeze over before he would allow Jenna to leave this compound, but he bit his tongue. He wasn’t in charge here. “What do you think?”
“It would be dangerous to go to the village. Daesh might return, or we might be ambushed on the road. We would have to send some men to protect the women. But we can’t send many, or we’ll leave the hospital vulnerable. For all we know, those sons of pigs could be headed our way next.”
“I agree.” Derek was glad Farzad saw it his way. “It would be far too dangerous to send the midwives to the village, and it would be foolish to divide our numbers and leave the hospital more open to attack.”
“Can you speak to your sister, ask her what she and the others wish to do?”
Wait.What?
A part of Derek wanted to tell Farzad that he wouldn’t let Jenna go no matter what she wanted to do. But then he’d be just like her father, denying her the freedom to make her own choices. And yet if she went, she’d be putting herself and whoever went with her in grave danger.
Hamzad strode up, spoke to Farzad. “It is the right thing to do. These are our people, our women, Afghan women. I volunteer to go. I am not afraid of Daesh.”
Farzad turned back to Derek. “Please tell your sister.”
“I’ll ask her.”
He knew what she would say.
* * *
“I’ll go.”Jenna had experience in treating sexual assault victims. “Marie, you should stay. Delara, you, too, in case Marie needs you in the OR.”
Delara looked both relieved and guilty. “You shouldn’t deal with all of it alone. You don’t know how many victims there are or how serious their injuries are.”
“I’ll be fine.” Jenna sent Derek a text message to meet her by the back door in ten minutes and started filling a mobile medical kit with supplies. “I’ll need a vial of ceftriaxone and syringes.”
Ceftriaxone could prevent a rape victim from contracting gonorrhea and other bacterial STIs. But if they were going to give these women the same quality of care they’d get in the U.S., they would also need to bring HepB vaccines, a week’s supply of prophylactic medication for HIV, as well as vaginal suture kits, pain medication, sedatives, and Ovral to prevent pregnancy. She ought to take a Doppler, too, as well as other OB supplies just in case one of the pregnant women in the village delivered while Jenna was there.
She put the medical supplies near the back door then made a quick dash to her room to gather a bag of essential supplies for herself—soap, her hairbrush, toothbrush and toothpaste, a change of clothes. She grabbed her parka, her gaze landing on the box with James’ dog tags and the photo inside.
She lifted the dog tags out of the box and slipped the ball chain over her head, tucking it inside her T-shirt. “You’re coming with me, big brother.”
Outside, Derek was waiting for her, his lips a grim line. He spoke in English. “This is dangerous, Jenna.”
She’d known he wouldn’t want her to go. “I’m just doing my job.”
“If we run into anything that hints at trouble, I turn this vehicle around. Got it?”
“Got it.”
He picked up her duffel and loaded it with the boxes of supplies in the back of his Land Cruiser, switching to Dari. “You will ride with me. Hamzad and a few of the men will be just ahead of us, making sure the way is safe.”
She climbed into the back seat, and buckled in, while Derek made a call on his satellite phone. Then he held out a dark, heavy bundle of … something.
“Put this on over your T-shirt.”
A Kevlar vest.
Good God.
She peeled off her clothes down to her T-shirt, strapped into the body armor, and put on her tunic and parka again.
Derek got into the driver’s seat and started the engine. The dashboard lit up with a display screen. “Cobra, this is Tower. The drone is five mikes out. Roger. Out.”
Who was he talking to? “What drone?”
Derek pushed a button, and an eerie green image filled the screen. He glanced over his shoulder and found her staring. “We launched a drone from Mazar-e-Sharif when I learned where we’d be going. I want to make sure those IS assholes aren’t lying in wait along the way.”